nwasianweekly.com
Mar. 25, 2006

(Photos provided by Kazimierz Poznanski)
The influences of Western and Chinese art are evident in Zhang’s “Family Home”.

Chinese art from Western sensibilities

By Tiffany Wan
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

The artistic influences of East and West meet in a simple but striking exhibit at Seattle Pacific University’s art gallery called “Enduring Beauty.” Borrowed from the collection of University of Washington professor Kazimierz Poznanski, the paintings span three generations of artists, from venerated art professor Youxing Li to two of his bright students, Yangjun Zhang and Laizhong Qian (who is now president of the Sichuan Art Association and director of the Sichuan Art Museum in Chengdu, China).

It took Poznanski three years to acquire the paintings after meeting Zhang’s daughter during one of his many trips to China. Other paintings from Poznanski’s collection, by Teng Hiok Chiu, were shown at the Frye Art Gallery in 2004.

“This exhibition is a continuation of the previous exhibitions, though the concept is different because there are three generations of artists,” said Poznanski, whose academic research is focused on international trade and economic development. “I consider (the paintings) to be very incredible for the time they were produced. It is spectacular.”

The acquisition of Chiu’s paintings prompted Poznanski to seek out more works by Western-trained Chinese modernists of the same era. This led him to discover pieces by Li and his students.

Produced between the 1930s and 1980s, the paintings depict landscapes, flowers, waterfalls, industrial scenes, traditional scroll illustrations and abstract nudes. Through each painter, the influence of Western art is apparent in the color schemes and forms of many pieces; the industrial scenes by Zhang have a strong Western appeal in their striking color and brush technique, as does one particularly impressionist flower painting by Li, which, interestingly, was a wedding present to Zhang and his wife.

But retention of Chinese style and spirit remains integral to each painting. This is most evident in the subjects portrayed in each painting.

“Chinese painters are calligraphers. They paint the same way they paint the (Chinese) characters on paper,” said Poznanski, who paints Chinese landscapes himself. “They’re very swift and very controlled, but free flowing.”

Qian’s work emulates this contrast of East and West; his obscured nude paintings fascinatingly contrast with his emulations of traditional scroll painting depicting mother and child and other family relations. Compared to the rest of the exhibit, the former is extremely modern in their abstract quality, whereas the latter is a throwback to more historical aspects of Chinese art, which use finer details in the subjects’ facial features.

The most important pieces in this exhibit, said Poznanski, illustrate a traditionally Chinese symbol: the waterfall. Painted by Zhang, these three paintings touched Poznanski in particular due to the circumstances under which they were created. Zhang was on his deathbed when he painted the waterfalls — an emblematic and touching notion, considering that waterfalls represent vitality and life. The artist died a few months after completing the paintings.

“A waterfall is symbolic in Chinese traditional art, because water to begin with is a symbol of feminine element — yin — and mountains are the male element — yang,” said Poznanski. “The reason waterfalls are painted so much by Chinese traditional painters is (because they are) a symbol of life.”

Above all, Poznanski emphasizes how this exhibit proves the extent that China has succeeded socially, culturally and economically in the eyes of the West.

“To me, this is like a prelude to what’s happening now — development,” Poznanski said. “We think that if our own people succeed in another part of the world, this proves how good they are. It’s a stamp of quality or approval.”

The exhibit runs through March 28, when a closing ceremony will be held at SPU’s Art Center Gallery. The event will be attended by several VIPs from the local art community, including UW art professors and Josh Yiu, the new assistant curator of Chinese art at the Seattle Art Museum.

Most notably, renowned Chinese art historian Michael Sullivan of Oxford University will be there to survey the exhibition. Sullivan’s books, The Arts of China and The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art, are considered authoritative volumes on Chinese art history, said Poznanski.

The reception will begin at 6 p.m.  

For more information, call the Seattle Pacific University Art Center Gallery at 206-281-2079 or visit www.spu.edu.  

Tiffany Wan can be reached at scpnwan@nwlink.com.

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